1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mechanisms for performing arithmetic operations within computer systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus that facilitates performing exception-free arithmetic within a computer system.
2. Related Art
Rapid advances in computing technology make it possible to perform trillions of computational operations each second. This tremendous computational speed makes it practical to perform computationally intensive tasks as diverse as predicting the weather and optimizing the design of an aircraft engine. Such computational tasks are typically performed using machine-representable floating-point numbers to approximate values of real numbers. (For example, see the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard 754 for binary floating-point numbers.)
In spite of their limitations, floating-point numbers are generally used to perform most computational tasks.
One limitation is that machine-representable floating-point numbers have a fixed-size word length, which limits their accuracy. Note that a floating-point number is typically encoded using a 32, 64 or 128-bit binary number, which means that there are only 232, 264 or 2128 possible symbols that can be used to specify a floating-point number. Hence, most real number values can only be approximated with a corresponding floating-point number. This creates estimation errors that can be magnified through even a few computations, thereby adversely affecting the accuracy of a computation.
A related limitation is that floating-point numbers contain no information about their accuracy. Most measured data values include some amount of error that arises from the measurement process itself. This error can often be quantified as an accuracy parameter, which can subsequently be used to determine the accuracy of a computation. However, floating-point numbers are not designed to keep track of accuracy information, whether from input data measurement errors or machine rounding errors. Hence, it is not possible to determine the accuracy of a computation by merely examining the floating-point number that results from the computation.
Interval arithmetic has been developed to solve the above-described problems. Interval arithmetic represents numbers as intervals specified by a first (left) endpoint and a second (right) endpoint. For example, the interval [a, b], where a<b, is a closed, bounded subset of the real numbers, R, which includes a and b as well as all real numbers between a and b. Arithmetic operations on interval operands (interval arithmetic) are defined so that interval results always contain the entire set of possible values. The result is a mathematical system for rigorously bounding numerical errors from all sources, including measurement data errors, machine rounding errors and their interactions. (Note that the first endpoint normally contains the “infimum”, which is the largest number that is less than or equal to each of a given set of real numbers. Similarly, the second endpoint normally contains the “supremum”, which is the smallest number that is greater than or equal to each of the given set of real numbers. Also note that the infimum and the supremum can be represented by floating point numbers.)
Unfortunately, certain arithmetic operations involving interval endpoints and other non-interval arithmetic operations produce undefined results. For example, any real number, x≠0, divided by zero produces an undefined result, which typically generates a run-time exception during execution of a computer program. Providing code and/or circuitry to deal with these run-time exceptions can significantly complicate the design of computer systems. Moreover, the undefined results typically cause programs to fail or produce undefined results.
Hence, what is needed is a method and an apparatus that facilitates performing arithmetic operations without generating run-time exceptions.